Boeing tanker victory could mean 1,100 jobs for Illinois

(Crain's) -- Winning a hotly contested $35-billion U.S. Air Force contract for aerial refueling tankers would create about 1,100 manufacturing jobs at seven subcontractors in Illinois, Boeing Co. said Wednesday.

But a rival tanker aircraft built by European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. would create roughly the same number of jobs at six subcontractors in the state, using some of the same suppliers Boeing plans to use, such as Rockford's Hamilton-Sundstrand, which makes onboard power generators, and the Rolling Meadows plant of Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp., which provides an anti-missile defense system.

That's in line with the jobs-related arguments and counter-arguments raised by Boeing and EADS in their 10-year battle for the tanker deal, the biggest Pentagon contract by far on the horizon.

Boeing has said that building its version of the tanker would create about 50,000 U.S. jobs, mostly in the state of Washington, where the plane is built, and Kansas, where it would be converted into a tanker.

EADS, which plans to build most of its tankers at a brand new plant in Alabama, has projected it will create 48,000 U.S. jobs.

Chicago-based Boeing now has nearly 600 employees in Illinois, including about 472 in the Chicago corporate office, a spokesman said.

Boeing said a tanker win would add $57 million a year to its annual economic impact of $714 million in Illinois, with nearly 850 vendors and suppliers in the state.

Boeing said its tanker subcontractors would include:

Elecsys Division of DCX Chol, Pekin

Hamilton Sundstrand, Rockford

Northrop Grumman, Rolling Meadows

Rexnord, Downers Grove

Scot, Downers Grove

SKF Aerospace Sealing Solution, Elgin

Woodward MPC, Skokie

An EADS spokesman said that winning the tanker would create 4,000 direct and indirect jobs in Illinois, which compares with Boeing's estimate that it would create about 1,100 jobs.

But that's comparing apples and oranges.

The number used by EADS is based on a jobs multiplier used by economists to calculate total economic impact. The EADS spokesman declined to break down the numbers or say what multiplier was used.

But the state of Washington's employment office uses a standard multiplier of 2.814 for the aerospace manufacturing industry, which means EADS would create about 1,400 direct jobs in Illinois if it wins, about 300 more than Boeing.